Councillor Kerry Jang

Councillor Kerry Jang was first elected to Vancouver City Council in 2008 and re-elected in 2011 and 2014. He is a professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia where he teaches and conducts research on the causes of mental illness.

Councillor Jang has been a strong advocate on City Council for developing new homeless shelters and building low-income housing. Over the past three terms he spearheaded the development of the City’s first-ever mental health addictions plan, a strategy for helping survival sex-trade workers, and the use of modular affordable housing to help people who are homeless. His academic experience in the field of mental health and addictions has helped ensure better coordination and collaboration for city programs that help vulnerable people.

Councillor Jang has been deeply involved in several local organizations such as Thinkcity, a citizens group devoted to promoting citizen engagement in civic affairs; and served as past president and director of Collingwood Neighbourhood House.

Councillor Jang served on the Mental Health Commission of Canada, where he was appointed to the Mental Health and Law Advisory Committee whose national policy work will directly impact policing, corrections, housing standards, and management for areas like the Downtown Eastside across the city.

His vision is to help create a Vancouver where every citizen has opportunities to develop to their full potential and success.

Councillor Jang grew up in the Renfrew-Collingwood Vancouver neighbourhood. He attended Simon Fraser University and the University of Western Ontario from which he earned a PhD in psychology. In 2006, he was named Academic of the Year by the Confederation of Faculty Associations of British Columbia. In 2007, he was honoured with a Community Achievement Award from the Province of British Columbia. In 2008, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the faculty of medicine at UBC for community service.

Councillor Jang is a proud third-generation Canadian. His grandparents emigrated from China to Canada and settled in Vancouver in the early 1900s. He and his wife Vicki have two teenage children. They live in the Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood, six blocks from his childhood home. Family time includes piano practice, martial arts, and sailing radio-controlled model boats on the choppy waters of Trout Lake.